The present invention relates to an electronic system and device which includes means for generating ultrasonic signals as well as means for receiving and processing ultrasonic signals which have interacted in some fashion with a test object and have been received and converted into electrical signals.
Ultrasonic test equipment for the inspection of objects as to flaws and defects are known in a variety of systems and types of equipment. Generally speaking, test equipment of this type includes a signal generator or trigger generator operating a transmitter circuit which in turn drives a transducer producing ultrasonic waves. The same or another transducer is suitably placed, operated and coupled to the test object for receiving ultrasonic signals and converting them into electrical signals. These signals represent some kind of interaction of the ultrasonic test signal with the test object in a particular zone or region thereof. The receiving circuit includes amplification means having a gain that is for example made dependant upon the (expected) signal transit time. The received signal is processed in some fashion whereby particularly so-called looking windows are generated which are enabling and disabling signals to be applied to electrical transmission circuitry to suppress signals from the receiving transducer except for a particular adjustable period of time in which the interaction signal, if at all, is expected to occur. The test equipment of the known variety is also known to include comparators and threshold detectors which respond if particular limits of signal amplitude and/or particular transit times have been exceeded. The tests are conducted in steps, because each individual test inspects only a limited zone or region of the test object. On the other hand, a larger system includes a plurality of subsystems each including means for the transmission and means for the receiving of ultrasonic signals for thoroughly covering the interior of the test object.
The various signals as received and acquired are further processed in order to obtain the desired information on the internal state of the test object. It is inherent that the various tests carried out by different subsystems involve different aspects and do not operate with the same parameters. The timing of a test step; the phase of the transmitted pulse within a test step period; the phase and duration of the looking window or windows; the threshold detection of both signal transit time and amplitudes and other parameters may vary for the different portions of the equipment. These variations are produced usually by appropriately operated adjusting elements. In the case of many such transmission-receiving channels or subsystems, operating in total with k steps and having as far as the equipment hardware is concerned i adjustable membes for the adjustment of the parameters for each test, the number of adjustable components is k times i. It can readily be seen that an extensive test system is encumbered by a large plurality of adjustable elements. More importantly however, the probability of incorrect adjustment as well as the time spent for adjusting increases.
Particular ultrasonic equipment has been constructed for purposes of inspecting tubes, pipes, sheet and plate stock, reactor walls, etc. One has used here computers for the acquisition and evaluation of the measuring data, processing particularly amplitudes, limits, transit times, etc. The known systems, however, were found to be deficient with regard to the adjustment in the test electronics. In other words, the known equipment is characterized by a complete separation of test electronics which operates the transmitting and receiving transducers, and the processing of the data acquired. We found as specifically deficient that the known equipment does not permit the updating of the operating parameters of the test electronic for example, on the basis of the acquired past data. Consider for example equipment currently used for the purposes of testing welding seams. The equipment is designed specifically for automatically testing the entire welding seam of, for example, a long tube or of two sheets, etc. Prior to an automated test run an operator has to acquire empirically information, for example, concerning the periods of time in which certain interaction signals with the test object are expected to arrive. Also, the expected normal, regular amplitudes are empirically ascertained. These initialization runs are carried out, for example, by means of an oscilloscope on which the operator observes the timing and/or amplitude of the various signals. Thereafter he uses that information he personally has acquired in order to adjust the electronics. If the system is an extensive one, a multitude of such adjustments have to be made, and as was outlined above, the probability of erroneous readings and of incorrect adjustments increases with the complexity of the equipment. Generally speaking the operator becomes a part of the system, and if for some reason errors occur a repetition of the test run is required, but again, the operator becomes a critical link as far as the adjusting of the equipment is concerned, etc.